What Your Child on the Spectrum Really Needs: Advice From 12 Autistic Adults Preview

Interview with Contributor Ben Kartje

Interview with What Your Child Really Needs Contributor Ben Kartje

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Ben Kartje, a contributor to What Your Child on the Spectrum Really Needs: Advice From 12 Autistic Adults. He talked about his interest in the project, previewed some of his advice, and discussed his hopes for readers. What Your Child Really on the Spectrum Really Needs is now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and several online retailers in paperback form. It will also be available as an e-book soon. The video transcript can be found below.

Autism Interview #99 Part 1: C.L. Lynch on Self-Awareness and How We Describe Autism

C. L. Lynch is a novelist and autistic advocate from Vancouver. Her breakout novel Chemistry came about from the intention to write a book that was “the exact opposite of Twilight.” She also writes about her recent autism diagnosis and advocates for improved autism awareness and understanding. This is the first part of a two-part interview with C. L. Lynch in which she discusses her personal diagnosis story, how her diagnosis changed her marriage, and why she advocates for a complete overhaul in autism severity labeling (beyond merely avoiding “high” and “low” functioning labels).

The Problem with Autism Labels

“Your son’s test results are consistent with a classic autism diagnosis.”

I stared at the psychologist and waited for her to continue. But she didn’t.

“Is it PDD-NOS? Or Asperger’s?” I asked.

“No,” she continued. “In order to be diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, he can’t have a language delay, which he clearly has. And he has enough symptoms that fall into the classic autism category of the spectrum.”